SCO And Open Source

I strongly disagree with SCO's attack on the Open Source community. While I still work with SCO products, I now strongly encourage my clients to adopt Open Source alternatives. My conscience will not allow me to sell products from a company who would then use the profits to attack the Open Source world.

SCO OpenServer 5

Background

I first started doing work with Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) UNIX for Intel product - SCO Unix R2 in the mid 1980's, providing installation support, troubleshooting and upgrades. I have continued to work with OpenServer in it's various releases ever since. My experience with OpenServer is quite broad from bare metal installs to recoveries after catastrophic failures. I still have a large client base of OpenServer users who find it a reliabile, effective platform for running their UNIX based applications.

SCO OpenServer Experience

I have supported the use of SCO OpenServer in production environments since 1988. In that time, I have worked on systems as small as one user and as large as 100+ users. My experience with OpenServer includes:

Recommending Suitable Platforms. Not all PC hardware is suitable for, or compatible with OpenServer 5. Many PC components (and servers) are not suitable for use as an OpenServer platform due to hardware compatibility issues. Additionally, selecting the correct hardware can have a significant impact on reliability, performance, capacity and upgradability - not to mention price. Also, SCO's own Hardware Compatible List often contains undocumented issues that limit suitability. I can provide specific recommendations on the best hardware to meet your OpenServer deployment requirements.
Performing Bare-Metal Recoveries. I have recovered many SCO servers, some considered a lost cause by the application vendor or even SCO. I have managed recoveries even when back up tapes were unavailable or unreliable. In one case, an associate and I were able to restore data off of a disk damaged by a lightning strike when no back up was available.
Please call me if your system has crashed for any reason. I may just be able to help you get your system back.
SCO Upgrades. SCO has eliminated support for older releases of OpenServer. This may leave your machine vulnerable to security, compatibility or functionality issues.
I completed dozens of Y2K SCO upgrades, often having the machine back in service in as little as 4 hours.
Security Audits. Most of the SCO machines I encounter have security issues that could easily be exploited. In many cases these flaws can be easily corrected. I can help secure your system and also develop the policies and procedures that will ensure your machine stays secure.
Back Ups. Most of the machines I encounter do not perform complete, trustworthy back ups. This places the machine (and the company that owns it) at significant risk.
To assess your current back up strategy, ask yourself these questions:
1. Can you perform a bare metal recovery with 100% confidence?
2. Can you recover any file from your back up media at any time?
3. Can you reproduce your machines current configuration with the documentation you have on hand right now?
4. How old are your tapes? Have they exceeded their rated life?
5. Are your back ups verified after they are performed?
6. Are databases or other applications put into a back-up safe state? If not, your database may be worse than useless.
Performance. When your server is slow, everybody is effected. Stop appologizing to your clients about your your slow server. Often simple upgrades can add years of life to a server (and prevent costly upgrades).
Database Administration. We have experience with both the Progress and Oracle databases. I often see systems where the application vendor has not done a good job of installing a database product or has not properly configured SCO to provide the resources the database needs to function properly.
If your staff are getting errors like semaphore error or out of shared memory, SCO isn't configured properly.
Upgrades. Call me when it's time to upgrade your SCO server. I've done countless hardware and operating system upgrades on SCO systems.
Retirement. I'll help you retire your SCO server. We have helped many clients migrate from SCO to Linux. Linux offers many advantages over SCO including reduced price, better hardware compatibility, performance, etc. We can help you migrate to SCO Linux or to the platform recommended by your application vendor.
Migration need not be difficult or costly. To minimize risk you want to ensure it is done properly.

SCO Certifications & Authorizations

I tested out on my SCO ACE designation at a local ProMetric center. It involved two tests that were quite picky (and more challenging than I expected). However, for the depth and breadth of coverage, I would have to say that the SCO ACE tests were some of the most challenging tests I've taken. To complete an ACE designation, you must pass both an System Administration test and a Network Administration test.

Earning a Master ACE designation involved taking a third SCO test on Shell Script Programming. Shell scripting is a critical skill for system administrators and SCO is correct to ensure that their top certified people have this skill.
We earned formal SCO reseller status in 1997 after informally selling and supporting SCO products for years. Management changes at SCO forced us to become legit! Our SCO Reseller Authorization Number is 30044282.

Our first SCO authorization was for their entire OpenServer product line. At the time, SCO OpenServer reseller authorization was only granted to companies who had an SCO Advanced Certified Engineer on staff. Today, anyone can resell OpenServer. However, few companies do a good job of installation or support.

	I tested out on my SCO ACE designation at a local ProMetric center. It involved two tests that were quite picky (and more challenging than I expected). However, for the depth and breadth of coverage, I would have to say that the SCO ACE tests were some of the most challenging tests I've taken. To complete an ACE designation, you must pass both an System Administration test and a Network Administration test.
	Earning a Master ACE designation involved taking a third SCO test on Shell Script Programming. Shell scripting is a critical skill for system administrators and SCO is correct to ensure that their top certified people have this skill.
	We earned formal SCO reseller status in 1997 after informally selling and supporting SCO products for years. Management changes at SCO forced us to become legit! Our SCO Reseller Authorization Number is 30044282.
	Our first SCO authorization was for their entire OpenServer product line. At the time, SCO OpenServer reseller authorization was only granted to companies who had an SCO Advanced Certified Engineer on staff. Today, anyone can resell OpenServer. However, few companies do a good job of installation or support.